Human Nature
by DarkHououmon
Summary: Rating may change. When the Thornberrys are marooned on a strange island, Eliza goes out on her own to find help. But she runs into a clan of truly carnivorous humans...


Disclaimer: I do not own The Wild Thornberrys.

Author's Note: I got this idea when I found out about Watership Down. Some of the things are based on the book/movie. But not a whole lot. Anyway, I'm not sure how often I'll write this story. ; I haven't figured out much for it yet. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll continue it in a few days.

HUMAN NATURE

Story by DarkHououmon

The waves slashed along side the side of the commvee. It tipped towards the other side, then settled and returned to normal. Another wave crashed into the side of the vehicle, but still the vehicle kept on going. The storm was growing nearer, but it seemed as though it was outrunning the storm. Dark clouds seemed to grow further and further away, much to the delight of the passengers aboard the commvee. A skinny woman sat at the steering wheel, using all of her strength to keep the commvee steady as they tried to avoid the upcoming storm. She could hear lightning crackling in the distance.

"I told you we should've gotten the commvee fixed earlier." The man next to her spoke, twitching his finger in his bushy mustache. "Maybe if we had gotten it done an hour earlier, we wouldn't be outrunning this storm right now."

"Nigel…" The woman warned, her voice a soft growl. "Don't bring that up again, okay?" She stared ahead, trying to find any sign of land. "I'm trying to concentrate on finding shelter."

Nigel, the man with the red mustache, winced at his wife's anger. "I'm sorry, Marianne. I didn't mean to…"

Marianne rolled her eyes, brushing blonde hair from her face. "Oh forget it.." She gripped the wheel a little tighter. She was on edge. There was a chance the storm could hit them. If that happened, they could be in big trouble.

Meanwhile, their children were busy playing in the bedroom of the vehicle. Well, sort of anyway. The youngest daughter, red hair, was on her bed. She was happily playing cards with her friend. Only her friend wasn't a human, he was a chimpanzee. His gray fur was covered in sweat as he tried desperately to find his way out of the trap the girl set him in. He fiddled around with his hand of cards, looking left to right. "No…no…" He moaned, frustrated.

He roared in anger and through down his cards, revealing them to his human friend. The girl giggled, causing the gray chimp to growl angrily. "I don't see why you're getting upset Darwin. It's only a game." She scooped up the cards, and shuffled them in her hand. "Best two out of three?" She held out half of the shuffled deck to Darwin, waiting for his answer.

"Oh all right." He groaned. "But Eliza, this time no cheating!" He snatched the deck and narrowed his eyes as he took the top eight cards and set the other down next to him. He was playing a made-up game Eliza invented sometime ago to pass the time. It was different than all other card games, and Darwin believed that, because Eliza made the game, she would cheat anytime she'd get the chance to.

Eliza groaned softly. "Oh Darwin…" She watched as her chimp friend scanned the eight cards he had in his hand. "You know that there are things I don't do. I don't cheat. I don't fight. And I don't kill."

The chimpanzee couldn't help but smile. "If you say so." He said. "But I still say you're cheating." He narrowed his eyes for a second, and focused on his hand of cards. Eliza shrugged. She wasn't going to argue, not then. She grabbed the first eight cards of her own deck, and prepared to play another round of cards with the primate.

On the other bed, someone who looked kind of like a smaller version of Marianne, without the glasses, lay stretched on her back. She held up a magazine that said Teenage Wasteland on it. She was smiling softly. For once her sister was doing something that wasn't distracting her. The teenager flipped through the pages of the magazine, grinning as she kept seeing pictures of her idol, Des BroDean.

Eliza looked over her hand to see her sister, Debbie, grinning crazily at a picture of that boy. "Debbie, you know he's too old for you." She murmured under her breath.

"Shut up, pip-squeak!" Debbie snarled, her dark green eyes looking over the cover of her magazine. "I don't care if he's older. He's hot!" She said in a voice that crossed between dreamily and threateningly. Eliza shuddered, and decided not to provoke the teenager further. She went about with her card game with Darwin. Darwin was busy trying to come up with a great opening move to keep Eliza from winning.

Marianne looked ahead. "Oh no…" She could see a dark cloud storming their way. She looked behind her. The other dark clouds were still chasing them, and they were still full of static electricity. She looked back ahead. Those clouds weren't showing any signs of lightning for the moment. But then she saw a bolt of flashing light streak across the skies. "Oh no…" She repeated.

Nigel rushed to her side as he heard his wife moaning in fear. "What's wrong, deary?" He whispered, placing his hand on Marianne's shoulder. The woman pointed a shaky finger towards their front. Nigel slowly turned his gaze to see what was going on outside. He was horrified to see another storm was heading their way. It was going to collide with the storm behind them, and it would create an even stronger storm!

"Turn to the side!" Nigel shouted. He could see a clearing. It wouldn't help them for long. But it would buy them some time.

Instantly, Marianne gripped the wheel of the commvee tightly, and swerved it over to the left, where Nigel was pointing desperately. She tried with all her strength. The commvee, however, wouldn't turn really fast. Nigel was becoming even more paranoid. He grabbed the wheel to help Marianne turn it faster.

He shouted, "Turn it faster!" He thrust as much of his strength as he could into turning the wheel.

"I'm…trying!" Marianne was straining against the force. The waves were growing more and more powerful. "The waves…are too…strong!"

Eliza, Debbie, and Darwin were suddenly thrust to one side of the lower bedroom. Debbie groaned in pain. Eliza and Darwin had fallen on top of her. "Will you two get off!" She snarled, pushing Eliza and her friend off of her.

Eliza wiped dust off of her arm. "Gee sorry, Deb. Next time I'll ask you before I fall on top of you!"

Debbie glared at her younger sister. Eliza did say she didn't fight. But with her sister, that was a whole other story. Instantly the two grabbed each other by the arms tightly. They started pushing into each other, each trying to wrestle the other to the ground.

But before any one of them could win, suddenly a huge wave crashed into the side of the commvee. Screaming, the sisters and chimpanzee slammed into one side of the room. They struggled to get up, and ran up the ladder to see what was going on. Eliza was nearly out of breath when she was at her parents' side. "What's going on!" She shouted, trying to be heard over the huge waves that crashed into the vehicle.

Nigel and Marianne couldn't answer. They were using all of their strength trying to turn the van around. It wasn't working. The waves were slashing so harshly that the commvee was forced to continue moving in a straight line, heading straight towards another powerful storm.

"What's going on, Eliza?" Darwin grabbed onto the bolted table of the commvee, hanging on for dear life. "Are we going to die!"

Eliza shook her head. "No, we're not…" Suddenly Eliza slipped and fell onto the ground. The door of the commvee had swung open, allowing the powerful wind to ride into the vehicle. Eliza screamed as the wind was sucking her out. "MOM! DAD!" She cried out in fear.

"ELIZA!" Suddenly Eliza felt something grab her by the arm. She turned to see her sister hanging on to her. She was gripped a cupboard, but they both knew that wouldn't help much. Instantly, Darwin grabbed Debbie by her shirt, and the two worked together to pull the red-haired girl back into the commvee. Once Eliza was back inside, Debbie slammed the door shut with all of her strength. Exhausted, Debbie slid down her back, and sat down next to her sister. "You all right?"

Eliza smiled, and nodded. "Thanks, Deb."

Debbie seemed surprised, but smiled and nodded back. "No problem, kiddo."

Another wave crashed into the commvee. Eliza and Debbie clung to each other tightly, trying to resist the power of the water hitting them. Darwin and Donnie, the wild child, were hiding inside the cupboard, the doors shut tightly so they wouldn't fall out. Marianne and Nigel tried their best to steer their way to safety. But finally a wave too strong for them to handle hit them, causing them to loose control of the wheel. It spun out of control, and the commvee was tossing violently as thought it were in a whirlpool.

Everyone in the commvee was screaming in terror and fright. Marianne and Nigel clung to their seats. Darwin and Donnie hugged each other tightly. Debbie and Eliza helped hold each other down. The commvee spun out of control. But just when they thought things couldn't get any worse, out of the corner of her eye, Marianne saw a huge tidal wave heading their way! The wall of water was almost 16 ft tall, and it would soon hit them with enough force to drown them.

"Everyone!" Marianne ordered, closing her eyes tightly. "Hang on!" Everyone held on tighter, closing their eyes as well. They braced for the impact, which came only seconds later.

The water struck the commvee with tremendous force, forcing the entire vehicle under water. The powerful churning waters below them continued to batter the commvee, causing it to turn constantly, knocking it from one place to another. The windows of the commvee burst open, and water soon rushed in.

The vehicle then surfaced for a while. This, at first, brought relief to the family, happy they wouldn't drown. But their hopes soon diminished as another wave, this one 17 ft tall, struck them. All the water that rushed inside was so cold it seemed to paralyze them instantly. The waters pushed it further under water, and soon the commvee was no where in sight…


End file.
